This invention relates to an apparatus and a method for loading poultry into containers. Such an apparatus and such a method are known from European patent application 0 713 642.
This apparatus comprises a supply track for feeding caught animals, at least two buffers, each for gathering and receiving a group of animals to be loaded into a container, and a distributing conveyor with a drive. The distributing conveyor is disposed between the supply track and the at least two buffers mentioned. The distributing conveyor serves for transferring animals supplied via the supply track alternately to different ones of the at least two buffers. The method described in this document comprises supplying caught animals along a supply track and alternately gathering animals to be jointly loaded into a container in at least two different buffers by transferring animals supplied via the supply track, via a distributing conveyor alternately to the one and the at least one other one of the at least two buffers.
In the use of this known apparatus and this known method, the alternate gathering of animals supplied via the supply track is carried out by swinging a distributing conveyor, an upstream end of which is aligned with a downstream end of the supply track, between positions in which the downstream end of the distributing conveyor terminates in the different buffers for alternately delivering animals to the different buffers.
A drawback of this known apparatus and method is that while the distributing conveyor is being swung from a position in which it terminates in one of the buffers to a position in which it terminates in an other one of the buffers, supplied animals may end up in either buffer as well as on a partition between two buffers. To prevent this, the supply of animals could be interrupted while the distributing conveyor is being swung, but this means that the long upstream supply track and the catching means must be stopped as well.
A further drawback is that the swinging distributing conveyor constitutes a complex construction which takes up much space, leading to a long construction of poor maneuverability which is difficult to transport and occupies much storage space when not in use.
It is an object of the invention to provide an apparatus and a method in which the switch from transferring animals to one of the buffers to transferring animals to an other one of the buffers can be controlled better without interrupting the supply of animals via the supply track. Another object of the invention is to enable a simpler and more compact construction of the apparatus.
To achieve these objects, an apparatus for loading poultry into containers is proposed, which comprises: a supply track for supplying caught animals, at least two buffers, each for gathering and receiving a group of animals to be loaded into a container, and a distributing conveyor with a drive, between the supply track and the two buffers, for transferring animals supplied via the supply track alternately to different ones of the at least two buffers, wherein the distributing conveyor extends from the one of the buffers to the other one of the buffers, the downstream end of the supply track links up with the distributing conveyor at a point between the buffers, and the drive of the distributing conveyor is adapted for driving the distributing conveyor alternately in opposite senses for alternately transferring supplied animals to different ones of the at least two buffers.
The invention also provides an apparatus for loading poultry into containers, comprising a supply track for supplying caught animals, at least one buffer, for gathering and receiving a group of animals to be loaded into a container, while at least ends of the buffer for delivering gathered animals are vertically movable for loading different tiers, further comprising at least one drive means for driving vertical movements of at least the ends of the buffers, which at least one drive means is located at a level above a highest level of the buffers.
For achieving the object mentioned, the invention further provides an apparatus for loading poultry into a container, comprising a supply track for supplying caught animals, a container elongate in a longitudinal direction for receiving supplied poultry, a buffer, between the supply track and the container, for gathering supplied poultry into a group and for transferring gathered poultry in groups in a conveying direction of the buffer to the container, and wherein the longitudinal direction of the container operatively extends transversely to the conveying direction of the buffer.
To that end, the invention further provides a method for loading poultry into containers, comprising: supplying caught animals along a supply track, alternately gathering animals to be jointly loaded into a container in at least two different buffers by transferring animals supplied via the supply track, via a distributing conveyor alternately to the one and the at least one other one of the at least two buffers, wherein a switch is made from transferring animals to the one of the buffers to transferring animals to the at least one other one of the buffers by reversing the conveying sense of the distributing conveyor, while the supply of animals to the distributing conveyor is continued uninterruptedly, for the practice of which method the apparatus according to the invention is specifically adapted.
By reversing the conveying direction of the distributing conveyor, the moment at which a switch is made from transferring supplied animals to the one of the buffers to transferring supplied animals to the other one of the buffers is accurately determined and animals are prevented from being temporarily delivered above the partition between the two buffers. At the same time, moreover, the supply of animals via the supply track can be continued uninterruptedly. Temporarily, the distributing conveyor then has a higher degree of occupation, in that animals that had already ended up on the distributing conveyor but had not been delivered by the distributing conveyor yet, are conveyed back along the downstream end of the supply track, there meeting the flow of animals being supplied by the supply track. However, by suitably adjusting the dimensioning and conveying speeds of the supply track and of the distributing conveyor to each other, this does not entail any problems.
Because the distributing conveyor extends in a fixed position, it can be made of simple construction and compact structure. The location of the distributing conveyor in a position in which it extends from one of the buffers to an other one of the buffers moreover contributes to a short and compact structure of the apparatus.
Because the drive means is located at a level above a highest level of the buffers, a compact apparatus is enabled.
By providing a container whose longitudinal direction operatively extends transversely to the conveying direction of the buffer, it is possible to load the container rapidly, and the container can be brought into a loading position with little maneuvering.
Further objects, elaborations, effects and details of the invention are elucidated below on the basis of an exemplary embodiment presently preferred most.